, 1887-09-10
FORGED EVIDENCE.
VARIOUS DEVICES OF CRIMINALS
TO ESCAPE JUSTICE.

Attempt to Make . Homicide Appear a
suioide-FabrIcation of Evidence In the
Crooks Own BehsIf-Presumption of
Counsel.
1t is usually regarded upon a criminal
trial as one of the strongest proofs of guilt
that the prisoner has manufactured testi-
mony in his own behalf, especially If this
has been done prior to or just about the
time of the commission of the offense.
This one thing has doubtless many times
put the rope around the neck of the
accused, when in all probability the
other facts in the case, taken by them
selves, could hardly nave taken the case
out of the realm of reasonable doubt. 1t
is a legal maxim, pretty well supported
by human experience, that all things
should be presumed against the doer of a
crooked deed, and where such a thing is
shown against the prisoner it usually re-
quires overwhelming proof of an honest
intent, or at least an intent not criminal,
to relieve the act of its ugly character and
to overcome the natural inference of guilt.
1t is not uncommon in cases of intended
homicide for the criminal to pave the way
for news of the death. Asking If a GER
tain person is not looking Ill, telling mar
velous and doleful dreams, reporting
vague threats, and the like, are methods
often adopted. On the trial of a negro
for murder in Pennsylvania some years
ago, it was shown that he had procured a
fortune teller In the neighborhood, who
was regarded with great reverence among
the colored population, to foreten with
distinctness land particularly the hour
and method of the death of the deceased.
A woman in England, who was convicted
OF the murder of her husband and two
children, told a female neighbor, about q
month before the commission of the crime,
with well simulated distress, that she
had had her fortune told by a gypsy
woman, who had predicted that within
six weeks she should see three funerals
pass from her door.
Another very common instance Is the
attempt to make a homicide appear a sui
eide, as by putting a weapon in the hand
of the deceased, so that probably a very
searching examination will not be made
of the case, the assassin trusting that the
coroner will jump at a conclusion without
careful inquiry. How often this has been
successful we, of course, have no means
of knowing. Coronefs and police officers,
like prosecuting attorneys, will be fooled
sometimes. But the criminal records are
plentifully sprinkled with cases where, so
far from escaping the law, the guilty
party has thus furnished the clew for his
detection and conviction. In some in
ehhNS nv PIobOl hhS Dttu lOuLlu III lllt
opposite hand from the wound, or held in
a manner wholly inconsistent with the
theory of self murder, where death must
have been instantaneous. In one case the
bullet extracted from the wound was
found to be of a caliber several sizes
larger than hat of the weapon; in an
other, the pistol in the hand of deceased
had never been discharged at all, while in
still another it had evidently not been
loaded. So also with reference to sharp
weapons, as knives, daggers and razors,
and very often in cases of poisoning,
where the crimina has purchased poison
in the name of the deceased and left what
has not been used in close proximity to
the body. The %strangest case is that
where the hand of the deceased tightly
clutched a dirk knife, while the fatal
wound was clearly inflicted with some
blunt instrument. Occasionally the
corpse of the victim is carried to the rail
road track to be mangled by a passing
train, or tumbled down some old quarry,
in the hope that the mutilation of the
body will conceal the marks of crime; and
often persons are thrown after death into
water that they M be supposed to be
drowned. This latter device is rarely,
If ever, successful, for medical science has
definitely established the marks by which
death by drowning may be certainly
shown or disproved, and the authorities
can scarcely be deceived, even though the
investigation be only superficial.
1t may be well to remark that profess
sional criminals and those who have been
regularly schooled to crime rarely If eve,
resort to the fabrication of evidence Ia
their own behalf. The expert crook is too
wise and too well posted to run any such
risk, for he knows its danger. II he can
escape by throwing suspicion adroitly on
some one else he will do it. He will slip
a purse which he has stolen into the
pocket OF another man when in danger of
discovery, or join In a crow and yell
"Stop thiefl' with all his might, or per-
senate an officer, or do some other such
bold thing, but he is too shrewd usually
to write letters, give warnings and the
like. The schemes / have described are
usually adopted by those who are commit
ting a first offense without any criminal
experience or teaching, or by those who
almost against their wills are suddenly
guilty of crime. For the most part they
occur in cases Of homicide, where the
murder has been for some time premedi-
tated, and where the motive is not such as
generally actuates the common thug.
The presumption of guilt arising from
the fabrication Of evidence is not always
conclusive, even in law. Instances are
unhappily numerous where innocent per-
sons have worked their own undoing by
hus seeking to avert suspicion from
themselves. Every man is liable at some
time in his life to be involved in a network
of circumstances which threaten his good
name, his liberty or his life. And many
men, wholly g1iltless, AVE forged what
they supposed would be proofs of their in
nocence, just as others have resorted
to disguise and flight. A man of
weak nerve, suddenly placed in n com
promising situation, confronted with the
terrors of accusation, arrest and trial,
may in the horror of the moment, seeking
only present safety, do some act which
not only strengthens the suspicious against
MIN, but also seems proof positive of his
guilt, and all the explanations in the
world will not clear him. 1t is not fair,
therefore, to judge a man guilty always,
simply because he has resorted to the
forgery or destruction of evidence.
Instances are plentiful where counsel,
more jealous than honorable, and as often
without as with the connivance and con-
sent of their clients, have manufactured
and presented false testimony for the de-
Tense, and nave justified their action with
the specious plea that everything goes"
where a 1uan's life or liberty is at stake.
To sum ND the whole, the fabrication